Practices Before the Department of the Interior; Delay of Effective Date

The interim final rule, “Practices Before the Department of the Interior,” published on January 10, 2025, at 90 FR 2332, included a 30-day public comment period that ended on February 10, 2025. The effective date of the interim final rule was February 10, 2025. The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) is taking this action in accordance with Memorandum M-25-10 of January 20, 2025, from the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Implementation of Regulatory Freeze, regarding the postponement of effective dates of certain published regulations The memorandum directed the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies to consider postponing for sixty days from the date of the memorandum the effective date for any rules that have been published in the Federal Register , or any rules that have been issued in any manner but have not ( printed page 18928) taken effect, for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that the rule may raise. On February 10, 2025, OHA delayed the effective date (90 FR 9222) for the interim final rule to March 21, 2025. On March 13, 2025, OHA published a second document further delaying the effective date (90 FR 12461) to May 5, 2025. OHA is further delaying the effective date to June 4, 2025, to provide for further Department review.

OHA is extending the effective date of the interim final rule without opportunity for public comment and making the extension effective immediately, based on the good cause exemptions in 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3), in that seeking public comment on the extension is impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest. This third delay of the effective date until June 4, 2025, is necessary to give Department officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of new regulations, consistent with the memorandum of the President, dated January 20, 2025. Given the imminence of the effective date of the interim final rule, seeking prior public comment on this delay is impractical, and contrary to the public interest in the orderly promulgation and implementation of regulations. For the foregoing reasons, the good cause exception in 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) also applies to OHA's decision to make this action effective immediately.